The Conversation

Rural hospitals are under siege from COVID-19 – here's what doctors are facing, in their own words

Written by: Lauren Hughes, Physician, Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Small rural hospitals across the country are struggling to find enough space, staff and supplies.AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

It’s difficult to put into words how hard COVID-19 is hitting rural America’s hospitals. North Dakota has so many cases, it’s allowing asymptomatic COVID-19-positive nurses to continue caring for patients to...

Keeping indoor air clean can reduce the chance of spreading coronavirus

Written by: Shelly Miller, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder

Open windows and doors to boost air flow and help remove airborne particles. Daniela Torres/EyeEm via Getty Images

The vast majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs indoors, mostly from the inhalation of airborne particles that contain the coronavirus. But in spite of the obvious risks posed by being inside, according to the Centers for Disease...

Amid a raging pandemic, the US faces a nursing shortage. Can we close the gap?

Written by: Rayna M Letourneau, Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of South Florida

American Nurses Association, CC BY

With a sharp increase in U.S. COVID-19 cases this fall and hospitals nearing capacity in parts of the Midwest and West, health care workers nationwide are scrambling to save lives – at great personal risk.

But the extraordinary number of people flooding U.S. hospitals has shined a spotlight on another...

COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time – but are these game-changers safe?

Written by: William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

The pandemic rages as the world waits for COVID-19 vaccines.Peter Zelei Images/Getty Images

There are now two COVID-19 vaccines that, at least according to preliminary reports, appear to be 94.5% and 95% effective. Both were developed in a record-breaking 11 months or so.

I am an infectious diseases specialist and professor at the University of...

Five reasons Trump's challenge of the 2020 election will not lead to civil war

Written by: Alexander Cohen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Clarkson University

Pro-Trump supporters, including Infowars host Alex Jones, hold a 'Stop The Steal' protest Wednesday in Atlanta as Georgia's recount nears the end. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Some Americans fear that the deep political divisions in the country and President Donald Trump’s determination to challenge the results of the election will cause...

Why it's important to see women as capable ... of terrible atrocities

Written by: Jessica Trisko Darden, Assistant Professor, American University School of International Service

Artemisia Gentileschi's 'Judith Beheading Holofernes.'Google Art Project

Born in 1593, Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi was the first woman to establish herself as a successful artist in a profession long dominated by men.

One of the most striking aspects of her work is the way she paints women. Her male contemporaries tended to portray women...

What's cellular about a cellphone?

Written by: Daniel Bliss, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University

Editor’s note: Daniel Bliss is a professor of electrical engineering at Arizona State University and the director of the Center for Wireless Information Systems and Computational Architecture. In this interview, he explains the ideas behind the original cellular networks and how they evolved over the years into today’s 5G (fifth...

Returning the 'three sisters' – corn, beans and squash – to Native American farms nourishes people, land and cultures

Written by: Christina Gish Hill, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Iowa State University

The 'three sisters' are staple foods for many Native American tribes.Marilyn Angel Wynn/Getty Images

Historians know that turkey and corn were part of the first Thanksgiving, when Wampanoag peoples shared a harvest meal with the pilgrims of Plymouth plantation in Massachusetts. And traditional Native American farming practices tell us that squash...

Trump invitation to Michigan lawmakers could spark state and federal political crisis

Written by: Austin Sarat, Associate Provost and Associate Dean of the Faculty and Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College

Michigan Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, left, and Republican House Speaker Lee Chatfield are among those expected to visit the White House.AP Photo/David Eggert

The state of Michigan, and the United States as a whole, may face a political crisis brought on by President Donald Trump’s continuing efforts to undo the 2020...

While spending holidays at home, here are a dozen more things you can do to help stop COVID-19

Written by: Pamela M. Aaltonen, Professor Emerita; Immediate Past President, APHA, Purdue University

While it may be deflating, events like the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade are best watched from home this year. Here, the Harold the Fireman balloon lies face down as he readied for the parade on Nov. 27, 2019.Gary Hershorn via Getty Images

As Americans prepared for the first Thanksgiving in the time of the coronavirus, the Centers for...